This one is for the fam back East, since I didn’t get a chance to tell this story while back there… My nieces seemed fascinated by the fact that I had seen bears and the oldest remarked that I must have been very brave to be around them. Of course, there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity, but I’ll let her figure that one out when she gets older.
Last summer, I got the opportunity to fly over to the Katmai Nat’l Park and Preserve with a film crew to get footage of the famous Katmai brown bears. At this time, I had only a few encounters with Kodiak bears, so this was an adventure to say the least. The four of us were flying over to Hallo Bay, one of the places where the infamous Timothy Treadwell made camp (fortunately, not where he was killed).
Before I continue, let me be clear- Snackwell, I mean Treadwell, was very irresponsible around these animals. He made the mistake of thinking that they were his friends and put himself in very dangerous situations as a result. Now, some may argue that flying into an area where there are 35-40 bears hanging out is just foolishness itself. That’s probably true; yet, there are ways to act around these majestic creatures that minimize the risks involved, and as a natuaralist I talked with our local and renowned
bear expert to learn as much as I could.We flew out of Kodiak on a floatplane piloted by one of Kodiak's finest, Dave Hilty. We landed in Hallo Bay that morning and set up camp. There was another small camp of rangers near us, but other than that, the place was deserted. We were, quite literally, in the Middle of Nowhere. The silence was deafening. A mother and a tiny spring cub were frolicking about 300yds away. We snapped tons of pictures of these two, not knowing what was in store. (This is a mom and her 1-year-old to the left)
After setting up camp, we began to walk through the mudflats, which were covered in sedges and grasses. There were no fish in the streams yet, so this is what the bears were eating. It wasn’t long before we started to come close to many bears, grazing on the plants… looking more like bison then bears. It was amazing. We would walk by them, some as close as 30 feet away, and they would look up, acknowledge our presence, and go back to what they were doing. The man in charge of the filming made a neat analogy- that they regard us as they do foxes or ravens… nothing much to care about at all. At one point, about 7 bears anywhere from 30-70 feet away surrounded our tiny group. And yet, there was this remarkable sense of calm. We were respecting them, and they were respecting us. That being said, my senses have never been so heightened.
We only had one hairy encounter with this subadult male (this guy to the right- note, I do not have a telephoto lens). These guys, between 3-5 years old, are the frat boys of the bear world. Mom has just kicked them out of the den, and they are learning how to be adults. They also push boundaries. This rangy little guy (“little” being about 600 lbs) came closer and closer to us, despite our attempts to keep him at bay. Finally, when he was about 15 feet away, my friend Amy (the one I went to see in Maine) let out a large whistle. He pooped, and then ran off. I still tease her about the time she once scared the poop out of a bear.
So many amazing experiences- seeing mothers and cubs, bears mating, bears fighting. All in this wonderful unspoiled place, a backdrop of rugged peaks and glaciers. A river cloudy from glacial ice that clogged our water filters repeatedly… the best water I have ever tasted. Hiking 10 hours per day- one magical night sleeping under the stars while the electric fence hummed around us (you know, to keep bears out). Wow.
Here are some more of these great creatures.
Notice the glacier up in the right
This experience changed my life. Not only being in bear country, but being somewhere so unspoiled, so wild and free. These are places we must protect and keep sacred- part of being human is acknowledging the importance of the wilderness within and beyond ourselves.
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